Social Question

Can the phrase ”once you try white, you know it is right”, be used without it being taken as racist?

I was out hanging with my Italian Brother and a shapely woman in a mini dress was strolling by. I teased him not to be gawking, that he knew the Old Italian motto (from the MOB movies we like to watch), that Italians don’t ”burn coal”, (have intimate relations with African American women). He teased back saying, “You know what they say, ‘once you try white, you know that it is right’”, as a counter to ”Once you try Black you never go back”. I know a lot of people heard the latter and think nothing racial about it, but would they think the same of the phrase my Italian Brother used being it implies a Black woman would give up Black men if she had sex with a white guy? Do you think it would be seen as racist? If you think it is racist would you think that ”once you try Black you never go back” would be equally as racist?

15 Answers

The way it might be interpreted as racist is by the use of the word “right”, which rhymes with white, but also implies that that which is not white is wrong. Your friend should probably come up with a different catch phrase.

As someone who has dated people of varying shades of skin tone, I can say that such statements are egotistical bullshit, but not “racist” in my definition.

Well when reading the question, my first thought was wine. I never heard the expression before. And with Italians, the only racial reference with which I’m familiar regarding black women is “melongene”. There’s nothing racist or offensive in the statement because it has nothing to do with reality. In fact, were the statement true, who is it exactly that’s being slurred?

Wow. You are associating with some real winners. This is locker room humor, hopefully, and bears no serious weight. The answer is NO, it cannot be used without being racist. The “go black, don’t go back” is equally racist.
As long as everyone slinging humor along these lines is equally boorish, I see no harm in it. It is completely racist either way, either comment. Choose audience wisely.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone honestly ask if something is racist in a state of genuine inquiry. It’s more like, “hey, here’s this totally racist thing that I said/did. I think it’s pretty clever. Can you back me up?”